Not What I Appear
by vanityparty
Summary: Not everything is as it seems. Harry harbors a deep secret that could change everything. Draco falls in love, but could that love be destroyed when the secret is out? RR! HPDM HGRW
1. Back At Hogwarts

THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BY ME AND MY FRIEND ( MolestAPeanut). WE WORKED HARD ON THIS, SO YOU BETTER LIKE IT!! Joking. Please don't mind the first chapter, it's a little rough. We just needed to get things going. It'll get better, I promise.  
  
Disclaimer : If I owned Harry Potter, it sure as hell wouldn't be a childrens book. Wink To those of you too stupid to know this: I DO NOT own Harry Potter, or any of it's characters, I just manipulate them to my will. Thank you.  
  
Not What I Appear  
  
Chapter One - Back At Hogwarts.  
  
Harry D. Potter twisted a lock of hair around his finger, twirling it absentmindedly while looking out the window. He hated short hair. It was necessary, but he hated it. When he came out he was definitely going to grow it. Hedwig screeched noisily.  
  
"Tell that bloody bird to shut up." Vernon said from the drivers seat.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. Hedwig had been stuck in her cage all summer. He was going into his 7th year at Hogwarts. After that, he was free. Free from the Dursley's, free to do magic, free from... everything that was holding him down. After the Dursley's dropped him off at the train station, he was probably never going to see them again, other than getting the rest of his shit. He was glad for it.  
  
Harry got out of the Dursley's car, thinking about how glad he was that he was probably never going to see them again. Dudley had been cruel to him his entire life he'd been there, why, he had no clue. Probably of what he was, but seriously, that's a bit shallow. Petunia and Vernon had been complete bloody asses, and the whole of the Dursley family put to together was just plain fucked up. He was finally getting out of that place, and thank Merlin for it. His grin nearly spilt his face in half.  
  
He went to go get a cart for his trunk and owl, then wheeled it back to the car. He quickly loaded everything in it and waved goodbye, not even bothering to look back. He saw Ron and Ginny and Mrs. Weasly, just about to enter 93/4. They saw him and waved, but he waved them on, telling Ron without words that he'd see him on the train. 10:30. He had time. He made his leisurely way to 93/4, then quickly ran into it. He could hear the train hooting, waiting for loading. He packed his bags, and, with one deep breath, got onto the train, and started to look for an empty booth.  
  
On the train, Harry met up with Ron and Hermione and found an empty booth. Hermione was hyped up because she had gone to Paris over the summer, and Ron was watching her fondly. Hermione noticed Ron was watching her and she blushed. Harry grinned. Right before the summer they had quit dancing around each other and started going out.  
  
Hermione, still blushing profusely, sat on Ron's lap and started kissing him. Harry's smile widened and he got up to leave them in privacy. He slid open the door.. and walked right into a rock hard chest. "Oof." Draco, for it was indeed Draco, shoved him and he landed on his ass. He looked up, past Draco's beautiful and rock hard chest, up to his lush lips, past his adorable nose, finally stopping at his stunning icy eyes. God, he loved him.  
  
"Watch it, Potter." Sneered Draco. He kind of felt bad for pushing him down, but he had a reputation to protect. Being nice to Potter would definitely ruin it. He saw Granger on the Weasel's lap and shuddered.  
  
"Aw, look. The Weasel's fucking the mudblood. How utterly..." He paused, and his lip curled. "Disgusting." He finished. Ron got up, dumping Hermione gracelessly on the floor, and pulled out his wand. Harry intercepted before it got too out of hand.  
  
"He isn't worth it, Ron." Harry said quietly, but Draco still heard him. And for some inexplicable reason, that comment hurt. The blonde sneered, and stormed out of the room, motioning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow.  
  
They finally arrived at Hogwarts. Harry looked around at the familiar old castle with a sense of awe. Beautiful, wonderful Hogwarts. The only place to him that really felt like HOME. Damn, but he had missed this place. It was a place of escape, a place where he could finally be (as much as he could be without putting himself in danger) himself. Where he could wave his wand, make magic, be with his friends, where people weren't cruel, where he really felt at home. Malfoy shoved past him roughly, and Harry sighed. Maybe not everyone was nice. And it meant so much that he was.  
  
"THE SORTING!!!" Ron said from behind him, excited about it.  
  
"Ron, why are you excited? We don't even know anyone." Harry said. Ron's face fell slightly, but he was still excited. He dragged Harry and Hermione after him, quickly going to the Great Hall.  
  
The Sorting was boring, since they didn't know anyone, and they got eleven new people in Gryfindor. Ron lost his excitement about halfway through, more interesting in the food that was soon going to fill his plate then the Sorting.  
  
Dumbledore made his announcements, in his own odd, quirky way, and the plates filled up with food. Hermione scowled slightly, and thought about the poor house elfs, but ate her food, excitedly talking about her new classes, or what they're going to be, since they get their schedules tomorrow morning.  
  
Harry listened with half an ear, still glad to be back at Hogwarts. Ron listened (or pretended to) attentively, knowing he'd get slapped if he didn't. Anything to make his girlfriend happy. Soon the meal was finished, and Dumbledore released them to go up to bed, with the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Hermione, being the head girl, proudly led them up the staircase, up to their dorm. "BigglesWorth" She said to the Fat Lady. The Fat Lady welcomed them back and swung open her door. They quickly went their seperate ways, Ron kissing Hermione goodnight.  
  
They went back to their Dorm Rooms and quickly change into their pajama's, saying good night to each other, and with their belly's full, they quickly fell asleep.  
  
Hope you liked it. The chapters will get longer, I assure you. Please Review. 


	2. Meeting With Dumbledore

Okay. So this chapter is slightly longer, and I hope it's better. Please flame, and enjoy. Review!  
  
Disclaimer to those idiots who still don't understand this: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER! Sob  
  
Chapter Two - Meeting With Dumbledore.  
  
Harry woke up the next morning with a yawn. Ron was already up, and gathering his things for the shower. Everyone else woke up in the next few minutes, also gathering their things for the shower. Harry didn't move, just sat on his bed and waited. The shower emptied about twenty minutes later, and three laughing boys came out.  
  
"It's all yours, Harry." Said Seamus. They all knew that he wouldn't take a shower with anyone. He needed his privacy, and they gave him much ribbing for this.  
  
"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled. He got up from the bed, collected his things, and shut the door on his friends laughter. He came out a while later.  
  
"Geez, Potter, you shower like a girl." Seamus teased.  
  
Harry flushed guiltily. "I like long showers." He excused.  
  
"And so modest.." Seamus persisted. He laughed at Harry's embarrassment.  
  
"Oh, come on. Let's go, I'm hungry." He grumbled. They went downstairs, where they saw an excited Hermione.  
  
"Oh. Look at this! My schedule is excellent! Did you all get yours?" She gushed happily. Yep, she was a strange one.  
  
They all looked at their feet. Yes, they had gotten their schedules, but that didn't mean they had looked at them. They liked to put the idea of homework far from their minds. "Oh come on then! Take them out! Let's see what you got" Hermione said.  
  
Harry pulled his from his pocket, slightly rumpled. He opened it and groaned. "Double potions with the Slytherins, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology..." He drifted off. The list went on, he just didn't want to continue. Hermione sighed in exasperation and snatched the schedule from his hand, looking at it. Then she gave it back to him.  
  
"Ron?" She asked expectantly. He groaned and took her by the hand, dragging her off to breakfast, the others following. Breakfast was an big event, with everybody chattering happily now that they were back at school. Harry nodded once in a while to what Hermione was saying to him to signal he was listening, when in truth, he was not. He didn't listen to a word of it. He stared at Draco instead, and did a lot of sighing along with his nodding. When breakfast was finally over, he quickly got up from the table. And then he grinned, for he was going to be late to potions, and actually have an excuse for it.  
  
Ron frowned when he saw Harry walking away, in the opposite direction of the dungeons. "Harry!" He called. "Where you going?"  
  
"Got a meeting with Dumbledore." He said, not breaking his stride.  
  
Ron frowned again. "Lucky bastard." He said, unfortunately for himself, he was off to the dungeons.  
  
Harry walked into Dumbledore's office ten minutes later. "Hello, sir." He said.  
  
"Good morning, Harry. Is everything alright? I trust everything is in order." He asked him.  
  
Harry nodded. "Yes. The charms are going well. You should check them though to make sure they won't go out on me anytime soon."  
  
Dumbledore nodded. He waved his wand over Harry, checking to see if everything is in order. "You're carrying a lot of charms. Are you holding up okay? Feeling any weaker?" Dumbledore asked with concern.  
  
"I get dizzy sometimes, nauseous. Nothing serious, nothing I can't handle." Harry replied with a shrug.  
  
Dumbledore peered at him. "We've asked you to do this too long. It should all be over by the end of the year, hopefully."  
  
"That's good. I want to get married, and I want a life again. No one would want me like this." He said, gesturing to himself.  
  
"The girls do." Dumbledore said with great amusement.  
  
Harry glared at him, but a twinkle in his eye indicated he wasn't angry.  
  
Dumbledore did a few final checks, and then deemed them good to go. "I know you want to miss all of potions, but you can't. Everything looks okay. Remember, in extreme emotions.."  
  
"I know, I know. My charms slip. Don't let anyone see me in extreme emotions." Harry finished. Dumbledore nodded, satisfied.  
  
"Have a good year, Harry." He said.  
  
Harry started out the door, and then paused. "Professor?"  
  
"Yes, Harry?"  
  
"When do you think I can stop this deceit?" Harry asked after a long pause of indecision.  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "I know we ask a lot of you, Harry. A whole lot, that we shouldn't ask, even of you. All I can say is when Voldemort dies. When Voldemort dies, either by your hand or another, then your lies can die too. That I can promise."  
  
Harry nodded, and his eyes burned with tears, but he sucked it up, just like he always had. He straightened his shoulders, and made his way to the dungeons. 'All systems go.' He thought to himself.  
  
Harry rushed into potions class a half hour before class let out. He grinned to himself as he made his way over to Hermione and Ron. He sat down next to his friends, and looked smugly at Snape.  
  
Snape rose an eyebrow at him, but did not comment. He knew he had an excuse. No torturing Potter could be done today. He frowned at that, but after a moment, he let it go. There was always tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and so on. His mood lifted slightly; he lived to torture Potter.  
  
"Where in the bleedin' hell were ya?" Ron asked him.  
  
"I'll tell you in Divination." Harry whispered back. Divination was their next class.  
  
"What about me?!?" Hermione asked. "I don't have Divination."  
  
"Then Ron will tell you later." Harry replied.  
  
"Ron and I don't discuss things when we're together." Hermione said, blushing.  
  
Harry grimaced slightly at that. "Then while you two are together, I'll remind Ron to tell you." Harry answered.  
  
Ron spoke up then. "Why would I tell her anything if I could be otherwise delightfully occupied?" Ron questioned.  
  
Harry closed his eyes in exasperation. "Fine. Then I'll just drag Hermione away to tell her."  
  
"But I wouldn't WANT to be dragged away -" Hermione started.  
  
"It's either that, or nothing. Take it or leave it. I'm not discussing this anymore." Harry said, determined to ignore his friends and listen to what Snape was saying. His gaze soon strayed to Draco, no surprise there.  
  
Draco must have sensed someone watching him, because he turned to look. When Draco saw who it was, he sneered and turned around again. Harry sighed. He was so SICK of fighting. He just wanted to li ve in peace, or something near it. As for Draco, he wanted to stop fighting with him too. He doubted it could ever happen though, and that saddened him considerably.  
  
The bell rang fifteen minutes later, and Harry hurriedly packed his bags. He waited impatiently for Ron to do the same, and growled in irritation when Ron took the time to kiss his girlfriend, and then it went on and on and on...  
  
Harry finally lost his patience and grabbed Ron by his shoulder, jerking him away. "Come ON, Ron." He said.  
  
"Oh. Right." Ron said sheepishly. "Bye, Herm." Ron said, giving her another kiss, this one thankfully short, and she ran off. They walked in the opposite direction, towards the North Tower. When they finally reached it, they were on time, if out of breath. They hurried to their seats, muttering hello's to Professor Trelawny.  
  
"So." Ron started as soon as they sat down. "What were you doing in Dumbledore's office? Why do you always go to his office for some special, mysterious meeting in the beginning of every year since you came here?"  
  
"I can't tell you that." Harry answered.  
  
"You always say that, Harry. I'm beginning to think you don't trust us." Ron scowled darkly.  
  
"I do trust you, Ron, but I'm sworn to secrecy. I won't break it, not even for you two." Harry changed the subject. "Now, on a lighter note, what did you do for your summer?"  
  
"I had so much fun, Harry! I wish you had been there. Fred and George have their joke shop going, and they've moved out of the house, so it's calm now. I wish they were living with us, it's no fun without them. Percy is STILL living there though, unfortunately for me." Ron made a face at Harry, and Harry grinned. "I was being sarcastic about that fun part. It was really boring, with Fred and George gone. I miss them. I wish Percy would move out, and Fred and George back in. Ginny is okay, I suppose. But I really wish you'd been there." Ron paused for a moment, to hope for Percy's death. Then he brightened. "Anyways, how was your summer?"  
  
"Okay." Harry muttered, shrugging. He then turned his attention to the Professor, indicating that he didn't want to talk anymore. Ron sighed, for his friend was always so secretive, and shrugged it off, also paying attention to what the phony professor had to say.  
  
Dinner was a semi-peaceful event. Harry nodded and said, "Uh-huh. Yeah. Right." Every once in a while to indicate he was listening, while staring at Draco.  
  
"Who you staring at, Harry?" Hermione asked. She looked in the direction he was staring at but saw nothing of interest.  
  
"Oh, nothing. The wall. I'm just daydreaming." Harry answered, still staring at whatever he was staring at. Hermione peered intently at him for a couple of moments. Sometimes Harry was just.. weird. Not like a real boy. She shrugged it off and continued on with her topic.  
  
Harry continued to stare at the beautiful blonde headed boy. Draco sensed someone looking at him, and turned to look. It was Harry. Draco frowned, that was the second time today he had caught him staring at him. Was he on some muggle dizziness smoke or something? He shrugged it off, and then scowled at him to get him to stop staring, and turned back to his food.  
  
Harry turned back to his own plate of food and frowned thoughtfully. Why did Draco always have to be so mean? Why couldn't they just be, if not friends, then not enemies. It hurt. A lot. Because Harry really liked Draco, he always had. He was not only extremely hot, but could actually be very kind. Oh, Harry knew Draco had made some bad decisions in his life, and he knew he was planning on making more, but Draco had a good heart. He was kind when he thought he wasn't being observed, and caring also. He just didn't know Harry was watching in his invisibility cloak. Harry had watched that one night in amusement when Draco comforted a first year who was crying, and then threatened her afterwards that if she told anyone he was nice, she would die. Ah, yes, Draco had a soft side. He just didn't like anyone else knowing it. It had been that night that Harry had fallen in love with Draco.  
  
"Harry! Harry!! HARRY!!!" Hermione finally shouted.  
  
"Huh? What?" Harry came out of his daze.  
  
"Why are you murdering your potatoes? They're already dead, you know." Hermione said in amusement.  
  
Harry looked down at his freshly murdered mashed potatoes. "I needed to vent my anger." Harry said as an excuse.  
  
"Right." Hermione said, amused.  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
They went up to bed fifteen minutes later. It had been an eventful first day, and they all quickly fell asleep.  
  
Hope you liked. Review! 


	3. Authors note

Well, as you all probably have guessed, there are TWO authors writing this story. One is myself of course, and the other is MolestAPeanut. Anyways, we havent been able to get together lately, therefore, we havent been able to write. I promise as soon as we can sit down and think, we will. Anyways, hopefully the next chapter will be worth the wait....  
  
sinfully yours,  
  
atrociouschrist  
  
&  
  
MolestAPeanut 


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